154 



la England 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Fee 



Simple. 

 £. 



Outlay. Percentage 



upon Fee 



£. Siraplc. 



. 10 33 



5 33 



. 30 15 



3 300 



15 . 



Market-gardening 200 . 



In America 1 . 



On a sugar estate (with 

 slaves) 6 90 1500 



Thirdlj'. The cost of the operations. 



The reduction in the friction of the machinery in con- 

 sequence of travelling on a hard road, the large breadth 

 of land possible to operate upon at once, and the few 

 men required to attend the machinery in proportion to 

 the work performed, greatly reduce the cost of the ope- 

 rations, while cartage is reduced in the proportion of 

 the difference between drawing a weight on a ploughed 

 field or upon a railroad. 



Ploughing is Is. 7d. per acre ; hoeing the whole breadth 

 of 50 feet at once, 3d. per acre ; drilling seed the whole 

 breadth, 5d. ; harrowing and rolling, 5d. ; scarifying 

 and grubbing, 8d. ; reaping, cutting, and delivery, lOd. ; 

 carting crops off, and manure on to, the land, ^d. per 

 ton per mile. 



Facts and Results of the Machinery. — The 

 engines of my large cultivator are a Garratt's 6-horse 

 power, and a Barratt and Exall's 4 -horse power. They 

 are old second-hand engines, and, being unequal in 

 power and in weight, are not well-adapted to work to- 

 gether ; and the pistons are not tight in the cylinders* 

 Indeed, though I have had the metal packings looked 

 to, and taken in hand by a millwright and engineer, yet 

 are they very imperfect, allowing a considerable escape 

 of the steam. When Mr. Amos, the consulting en- 

 gineer to the Royal Agricultural Society, saw them on 

 one occasion, in a casual visit (but no trial taking place), 

 he thought that a considerable per-centagemustbe taken 

 off in any calculation for arriving at a conclusion on the 

 merits of my system, in consequence of their condition. 

 What the per-centage was that he stated at the time I 

 do not now remember ; but this is not of any moment, for 

 in my calculations I have made no deduction on that 

 account. 



In this paper it is my purpose chiefly to deal with 

 facts ; but it is necessary, in considering the future of 

 this system, to be informed that the engines of my cul- 

 tivator are of a wrong construction for the purpose, and 

 very leaky ; next, that the frame-work and the wheel- 

 work are very ill-made, and the friction consequently 

 very great ; and thirdly, that the weight of the whole is, 

 per horse-power of the engines, nearly double of what 

 it would be upon newly and more perfectly constructed 

 machines. 



Ploughing. — I ploughed 12 furrows of 10 inches in 

 width simultaneously, making thus a breadth ploughed 

 of 10 feet, at a speed of 2,400 feet per hour, the depth 

 of ploughing, five inches ; the ground was very hard ; 

 the pressure of steam was SOlbs. in each engine ; the 

 revolutions of the engines, 120 per minute — the steam- 

 cock was about half-open. On another occaiiion, I 

 ploughed similar ground with 481bs. in the large engine, 

 and 521b8. in the small one — the steam- cock half-open • 

 the speed of ploughing being the same in both. 



On another occasion 1 ploughed ground that was 

 much lighter ; it had been ploughed, and then levelled 

 and well rammed (several weeks prior) ; on this ground 

 I only used a pressure of steam of 321b8. in the large, 

 and 351bs. in the small engine. 



The above statements show that, on ploughing average 

 land with my machine, I should use not quite lO-horse 

 power when turning over soil 10 feet wide and 2,400 feet 

 per hour ; and, taking out of a day's work of twelve 

 hours one hour for change of ploughs and shifting at 

 headlands, I have eleven hours' effectual work, which 

 gives the following result : 



2,400 feet, the length ploughed in one hour. 



10 feet, the breadth of 12 furrows. 



24,000 feet, tho square feet ploughed in one hour. 



11 hours. 



264,000 square feet ploughed in oue day. 

 264,000 square feet. 



And = 6 acres per day. 



43,560 square feet in an acre. 



Now, 10-horse power, multiplied by 5-7Ib8. of coal per 

 horse-power per hour (which is Mr. Amos's estimate 

 used at Chelmsford, for calculating Mr. Fowler's steam- 

 ploughing, and which was deduced from trials upon a 

 number of steam agricultural engines, and the coals at 

 20s. per ton) gives 571bs. per hour, which, multiplied by 

 twelve hours' consumption, is 6*1 cwt. per day = 61 

 shillings ; to which add 3s. Gd. for one man for wages, 

 and 2s. for another, and 6d. for oil, waste, &c., and 

 we have 12-1 shillings for six acres, which gives 2s. per 

 acre. 



For a farm of 1,000 acres 25 h. p. would be re- 

 quired, and, taking the above as a standard, we should 

 have 15 acres ploughed per day; and the calculation 

 would stand 25 H. p. X 57 lbs. X 12-hours = 15*2 

 cwt. of coals, to which add 4s. for one man's wages, 

 2s. another, Is. boy, and Is. for oil, waste, &c., we 

 have 23"2 shillings, which, divided by 15 acres, 

 gives the cost at Is. G^d. per acre, with a 25 h. p. 

 cultivator. 



If a larger amount of horse-power be thought neces- 

 sary for more extensive cultivation, the cost will be 

 lessened. With a 40 h, p. cultivator the amount of 

 ploughed land would be 24 acres per day, and the cost 

 would be Is. 5d. per acre. 



If, instead of 5'71bs. per horse-power per hour we 

 take the coals at Gibs., it would make the ploughing, in 

 the case of the 25 h. p. machine. Is. 7id. per acre; if 

 we take the estimate at 71b8. of coal, it would make it 

 Is. 9d. per acre. If we were to suppose that coals were 

 only half the price, namely, 10s. a ton, the last estimate, 

 taken at 71bs. per horse-power per hour, would sink 

 from Is. 9d. to Is. 2id. per acre. 



There is one fact with respect to the plonghing trials 

 above-mentioned, to which I would beg to draw es- 

 pecial attention — a fact which appears to me of great 

 importance, namely, the small amount of force with 

 which tho 12 ploughs were drawn through the ground 

 when the land was comparatively light, because I think 

 that this will show how, when the cultivation of a farm 

 is carried on without in any operation treading upon the 



